Continuing in the key of parsley… I feel I should (sort of) hasten to add that I don’t set out to not use, let alone waste, parsley. Managing, minimizing waste should be a natural focus in any self-respecting kitchen.
Today in parsley, tabouli came to pass, to join a combination of lockdown pantry use-up and just-felt-like other Middle Eastern-adjacent dishes: Persian shallot yogurt, hummus, eggplant caviar (ours is Russian, but the concept is widely distributed with cultural variation), ground beef kebab, pita, and the requisite platter of tomatoes, onions, cucumber, herbs.
I say tabouli because in the mists of history or the 1980s I used the recipe in the original, unimproved, needs-no-improvement, Moosewood Cookbook. Tabbouleh seems to be more the Done Spelling now. I’m happy with either. The most important thing about tabouli is in fact what it is not. It is not those Euro-deli room-temp salades with couscous where bulgur should be. Yet, too, it is adamantly NOT a bulgur salade. It is a PARSLEY salade—bulgur, mint, tomato, cucumber, scallion, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper are condiments. Condiments for the, yes, parsley.